ARTS, BRIEFLY; An E-Book Bonanza: 12 Saramago Novels

By JULIE BOSMAN

Published: November 18, 2010

In another digital publishing experiment Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish 12 of Jose Saramago's novels - plus a novella - in an e-book collection for $36. ''In print, it would be unwieldy and expensive, but electronically, it is affordable and convenient,'' Bruce Nichols, the senior vice president and publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, said. ''Now readers can complement their Saramago print titles and discover some new gems they may have missed.''

Mr. Saramago, the Portuguese Nobel laureate, died in June at the age of 87. This e-book equivalent of a box set, titled ''The Collected Novels of Jose Saramago,'' will be available on Nov. 29, with novels including ''Blindness,'' ''The Gospel According to Jesus Christ'' and ''Baltasar and Blimunda,'' along with an introductory essay by Ursula K. Le Guin.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.